09/02/2026
Photography didn't begin as a career for me.
It began as an escape.
I received my first camera when I was 9 years old.
I had been extremely sick as a child and would undergo more than 50 surgeries on my kidneys and bladder before I was 11.
The camera wasn't given to me because someone thought I was going to become a professional photographer.
It was given to me for a much more important reason:
To help me get outside.
Nature gave me somewhere to go mentally and physically when hospitals and being sick had consumed so much of my childhood.
And photography gave me a reason to look.
To notice the light.
To watch an animal.
To explore.
To wait for something extraordinary to happen.
That little camera began a journey I don't think anyone could have predicted.
I've now been photographing for more than 50 years and professionally for 22.
I've photographed weddings, fashion, products, stock, wildlife and landscapes.
I've taught nearly 18,000 students face-to-face over the last 18 years and countless others online.
I've watched people who once thought becoming a photographer was impossible turn photography into their profession.
My fine-art photographs have found homes in 28 countries.
I've photographed at 119°F and at 56 degrees below zero.
Along the way I've endured more surgeries, four back surgeries and cancer. And I'm incredibly grateful to say I've now been sober from drugs and alcohol for 37 years.
But the greatest things photography has given me aren't numbers or accomplishments.
It gave me a life filled with experiences.
It eventually brought Katie into my life—the love of my life, my soulmate and the person who has traveled this crazy world beside me.
And after all these years, photography still gives me essentially what that first camera gave a sick nine-year-old boy:
A reason to get outside and experience life.
Over the next few weeks, I'm going to share more of that story here—the successes, failures, photographs, adventures, lessons and probably some things that will make you laugh.
And I'm also going to teach.
Because if you've ever looked at a beautiful photograph and thought:
“I could never do that.”
I want to help change your mind.
You don't have to be an expert.
You don't need to be intimidated by your camera.
And you certainly don't need to spend your life sitting behind a computer fixing photographs.
Get outside.
Learn your camera.
Experience something real.
REAL LIFE. REAL NATURE. REAL PHOTOGRAPHY.
— Christopher Balmer
